i bet jan has nsome cutting edg methods. still got to deal with all those young people though. hmm. maybe if we legalized pot they'd all be too stoned to go to the polls. no it's an actual substantive policy change. let's not go crazy. paul ryan and the young guns could lead a panel called 40 is the new 18 about how we could lift the voting age from 18 to 40. problem solved. i got lots of great ideas. if you invited me to come, i would be delighted to share them with you. i would love to be there. sa while i'm joking, they are totally serious. rather than change their message and adjust to the changing demographics, the republican party has apparently decided their best bet is to rig the electoral game.

to paraphrase "the gamble qugame all losers they yell deal the cards again. let's not let them. that does it for us. martin bashir, it is all yours. >> i agree entirely. it's thursday, january 17th, and the president's first task is to keep america's children safe, so who could possibly disagree with that. >> there will be pundits and politicians and special interest lobbyists publicly warning of the tyrannical all-out assault on liberty. >> is there now an obligation to ban motorcycles, bicycles, knives, et cetera? >> i'm afraid that president obama may have this king complex sort of developing and we're going to make sure it doesn't happen. >> they want to gin up fear or higher ratings. >> god forbid if somebody breaks

into your home, you better be a good shot. >> i thought it was really weissly. >> our rights come from god. >> of this gun had a hold on me. i felt this incredible surge of power like god must feel when he's holgding a gun. >> i think the president just doesn't have the guts to admit it, is not a believer in the second amendment. >> invoke for the xhirn childre immunity by hiding behind them. >> we don't benefit from ignorance. >> yes, it has begun. after the president laid out his bold plan to reduce gun violence, now comes the hard fight to get tough gun measures passed through congress. among the steps the president is pushing, an assault weapons ban, a limit on the size of artillery magazines, and universal background checks. but the white house knows the only way to overcome an

entrenched and forceful opposition will be to summon a swell of public support. to that end the president and vice president have launched a social media campaign and are planning a series of public engagements on the issue to seize on the outrage and frustration that followed that massacre at sandy hook. joe biden addressed the u.s. conference of mayors just this afternoon. >> in newtown some of those children were riddled with as many -- it's hard to even say it -- 11 bullet holes in a first grader. high capacity magazines in our view are not worth the risk. >> but you try telling that to the congress that would have to pass the legislation. republican responses have already ranged from i don't think so to impeach him. >> the president, he just doesn't have the guts to admit it, is not a believer in the second amendment. >> i'm afraid president obama may have a king complex.

>> he's already abused the law enough times that it's just been staggering. the american revolution was all about fighting such a monarchy. >> we want all tools available to use, including that impeachment. >> with that kind of congressional opposition to the president, it was no sweat for nra president david keene to dismiss the president's initiatives as nothing but a grab bag of liberal feel-goodies. >> this is all sort of makes you feel good, but, in fact, it doesn't do much. >> he's confident saying that because the nra has spared no expense in quarterbacking all research on firearms and their impact on society. that is when they're not using their resources to target the president's daughters. in a new ad calling the president an elitist hypocrite for sending his daughter to a school with armed guards. an ad "the washington post" fact

checker awarded a whopping four pinocchios. far from being elitist the relatively small force of unarmed security guards at sidwell is not unusual for a school of its size. moreover, the ad also suggests that obama rejects out of hand boosting security at schools when in fact his proposals include provisions that would provide funding for more school security. the nra, lawyers, guns, and money all in one powerful package. let's get right to our panel now. joining us is atlanta mayor qassim reid and jim moran of virginia. good afternoon to both of you. sir, if i might begin with you, congressman moran, we've heard the catalog of republican opposition to almost everything that the president is proposing, but i ask you this, sir. is it really possible for the

house of representatives to mark the slaughter of 20 children, leave alone the near 12,000 gun deaths every year, by doing absolutely nothing to reduce gun violence in this country? is that possible? >> it is possible, but i do think that the public will recognize that they will be culpable in the next massacre of innocent children. not to act is to make a decision toll allow further massacres by -- with mill stare-style assau assault weapons. they'll have that on their conscience but that's not a sufficient response for us obviously. the president has shown that he has the guts to stand up to the nra, which his predecessor doesn't show that he didn't and

the republican party doesn't have that kind of courage that the president has shown. but it's time for the american people to say, look, our interests are more important than this special interest. even the nra membership agrees we ought to have -- at least have universal background checks, and many of them agree that we ought to limit military-style assault weapons and the size of magazine rounds, but it's the leadership, the leadership takes their instructions from the manufacturers. this is all about making money. not only for the salaries that the leadership at the nra gets, but obviously the revenue that the gun manufacturers get. but gosh sakes, that ought not be the priority of this country or any political party in the congress, and we'll see whether or not it is as we fight this

out within the congress. >> okay. may area reior reid, we've been chronicling the daily litany of violence. a 17-year-old boy was shot and killed after a high school basketball game in chicago. in kentucky a 12-year-old girl lost her battle for life after a triple shooting that killed her father and cousin in a community college parking lot. and today in suburban atlanta, mayor reid, three people were found shot dead inside a house. now, the nra talks about gun rights, but what about the rights of those people, sir? >> well, i think that we're at a unique moment in time. and, martin, we all know that we're now at the hard part. we know that we're at a moment where if we're ever going to get reasonable gun control measures, many of which were supported by president ronald reagan when he worked to pass the assault

weapons ban in 1994 when the ban only passed by two votes, that we're going to have to act right now. i think programs like yours are essential to explain how hard this fight is going to be and how motivated every single person that has ever wanted to do anything about this issue needs to do it right now. the president has put his personal prestige behind trying to get this gun. the vice president has worked on common sense reforms, but everybody who is through anything like what you just n d named in cities and communities across the united states of america need to understand that this is going to be hard, tough, long and la boroborious, but it going to be worth it. >> congressman moran, i read on bloomberg that there's an estimation that come 2015 flash flood there is no legislative

change, there will be more deaths per year in this country than deaths as a con discrepancies of road traffic accidents. they're anticipating 33,000 gun deaths as compared to 32,000 as a consequence of road traffic accidents in 2015. these statistics are just mounting by the day unless somebody decides to take some kind of action. >> you're absolutely right, martin. it's inevitable that we will have over 30,000 deaths every year, 10,000 of them homicides, 20,000 suicides or accidental deaths, mostly children getting hold of a loaded firearm in their home. this is going to continue to happen, and many of them through massacres of innocent young babies such has happened in

newtown. it will happen if we don't take action. >> and yet, congressman, i hear larry pratt, the executive director of gun owners of america, saying background checks are a complete waste of time. >> well, he should be intelligent enough to know differently. two-thirds of the nra membership wants background checks, and yet 40% of the guns bought and sold in this country don't go through a background check. even the stores want background checks because they require them, and yet you can go to a gun show, and it's just like buying a hotdog. it's that easy to buy a gun. that's insane. and those guns invariably will be used to kill human beings. this has never been about hunting. this is about taking the kinds

of weapons off the street whose only purpose is to kill other human beings. we've got to stop this now. there's no other country that allows this to happen. imagine if there was a disease or more than 2,000 people were killed at the world trade center and look at the reaction to 9/11 which was appropriate but 30,000 deaths every year and we can't act only because the nra is so intimidating? who are we as a country to be that fearful, to be that weak in front of a bully? but the president has shown that he's willing to stand up to these bullies, to face them down in the interests of society at large and particularly for.innocent and the vulnerable. >> mayor reid, i know you're heading to the conference of mayors in washington immediately after this broadcast and we're grateful you have given us your

time. how optimistic are you that real change is in the works? that there really is momentum this time for curbing this out of control gun violence that congressman jim moran just said? >> i have a tough determined optimism. we're going to encounter bumps, but i think that mayor bloomberg's leadership has been essential and exemplary. there are now 750 mayors, democrats and republicans, across the united states of america who are locking arms on this measure. i think we're going to get real progress and real reform because you really have an unprecedented alliance of mayors across america, members of congress, forward-thinking members of the press and the media who know that this is the moment to get real reform. this is the first genuine opportunity we've had in more than 20 years.

and it is a powerful tribute to the lives of those 20 children not to give up and not to complain because folks like me and others have to go through some political hardships to make real change. >> mayor kasim reed and congressman jim moran, gentlemen, thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you, martin. next, the blue is still blue but the gray has become bright red. stay with us. [ male announcer ] wouldn't it be cool if we took the already great sentra apart and completely reimagined it? ...with best-in-class combined mpg... and more interior room than corolla and civic? ...and a technology suite with bluetooth, navigation and other handy stuff? yeah, that would be cool. introducing the all-new nissan sentra. it's our most innovative sentra ever. nissan. innovation that excites. now get a $169-per-month lease on a 2013 nissan sentra.

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that great southern writer william faulkner said the past isn't dead. in fact, it isn't even past. take a quick glance at the

nation's political landscape. it shows a nation sharply divided along regional lines. that show an eerie resemblance to the same divide that split the country during the civil war 150 years ago. have things really changed so little? of course, the united states today is a much different and much better place than it was two centuries ago. one still hears some views voiced in certain accents that leaves one to wonder, how far have we really come? >> is president obama making the case for possible impeachment? >> he's already abused the law enough. >> all options should be on the table. >> if you try to take our firearms. >> going to spark a civil war and i'll be glad to fire the first shot. >> let's bring in msnbc political analyst karen finney and msnbc contributor jimmy williams. jimmy, has the reaction to gun violence opened up a debate in this country that really does

expose regional divides which go back almost to its founding? >> i think i'm going to push back just a little bit on this and the reason i'm going to do that -- >> feel free. >> because you have two southerners that are going to -- that are on your panel right now. the idea of push back on guns or weapons, if you will, isn't a regional issue. if you ask people in the upper panhandle of wisconsin or in michigan, i think you would find just as much, quote, cling to their guns as you would in greenville, south carolina. there is virtually no difference. go to idaho, same thing. it's not that the people in the south cling to black helicopters and guns. that's a rural part of this country. i don't like it. i disagree with it, but the bottom line is the south, which by the way if you take a look at virginia and north carolina h obama won virginia twice, won north carolina the first time, almost won it this time. south carolina, what did mitt romney win it with? 53%. georgia, 52%. the south is trending purple.

it's going purple. this is not a southern problem. it's a rural american problem. that's what's going on. >> we're to our other southerner now. karen, there may be people around the country who are upset over what the president has done to stop gun violence, but resistance seems especially strong in the south. for example, in mississippi a state where white voters gave the president just 10% of their support, governor phil bryant will draft legislation to say firearms manufactured in mississippi would not be subject to federal regulations. is this something he can actually do? >> well, i have a slightly different take on this as well. i suppose this governor thinks he can try to do that, but i actually roll that and the comments of rand paul and marco rubio into the obscene disrespect we've seen for our president from day one of his first term. this is the same kind of disrespect we have seen time and time and time again. now you have rand paul and marco rubio trying to make tougher

cases because they're thinking to 2016. with regard to the south specifically though, i think there's a slightly other reason, and my parents are both southerners i should clarify. jimmy likes to count me as a southerner because of that, but i have some interesting distinguishing roots in the south. but, you know, here is part of it. this goes back to my time at the dnc and something chairman howard dean used to talk about. part of the problem is democrats after, you know, there was the civil rights movement, democrats basically gave up on the south, and we resorted to an 18-state strategy in our presidential elections and we don't make our case in the south. so what people in a lot of these southern, and particularly in red states, end up hearing is the only the one side bashing democrats. we don't stand up and make our case. i will tell you in my own family i have nra members who are hunters, and they own guns, and they have children. they don't want armed guards in their children's schools and they certainly are fine with the idea of background checks, but i

think this also goes to the nra has largely had the playing field to themselves because they've spent millions and millions of dollars over the last several years and this is part of why this effort now, and i think in the south i hope that the president makes a very strong effort in the south. i think he could have flipped georgia if he had more financial resources. if you take a look at some of the trending population there. but i hope to make a case in the south because i think, again, there are more southerners who i think would agree with the president saying if they had the opportunity to hear that unfiltered. >> because, jimmy, this idea that states can pick and choose which federal laws to baobey. this was called nullification. it's getting a haeshtion in interesting places. here is senator rand paul. >> we have a bill that we're going to introduce early next week. in this bill we will nullify anything the president does that

smacks of legislation, and there's several of the executive orders that appear as if he's writing new law. that cannot happen. >> jimmy, the supreme court has already ruled states do not have the power to invalidate federal law. the civil war itself put a pretty definitive end to the question of nullification. how can a united states senator even raise that as a possibility without, dare i say it, full nighing his own status as a senator? >> please understand that mr. rand paul, senator rand paul, is running for president. he's running from a caucus in the republican caucus in the united states senate that is made up of people that think just like him, and that's a sad, sad state to watch, especially in light of someone like senators daniel inouye and senator ted stevens, not what i would call, you know -- what i would suggest to you about those two senators who have both passed away, they were old school. they were republicans and democrats from two different

states with two different i hadologist ideologies but they would never in a billion years go on a network and say the kind of buffoon ri that plaintiff paul just said. clearly he's a dentist and not a constitutional lawyer. he has no clue what he's talking about. >> but also remember that with this president people are talking about seceding from the union -- >> yes. >> we have heard a lot of talk and we've talked about this a lot on your show, taking our country back and we always like to ask from who? >> yes. >> there are racial overtones to some of this language and some of this dichotomy. that's something the republican party as we begin to engage in this conversation on gun control and don't forget immigration where you had a huge proliferation -- >> i can't wait for that one. >> -- of latinos in the south, republicans better watch their mouths going forward on some of this. >> kir ren finney and jimmy

williams, both southerners, but both great. thank you. stay with us. much more ahead. new prilosec otc wildberry is the same frequent heartburn treatment as prilosec otc. now with a fancy coating that gives you a burst of wildberry flavor. now why make a flavored heartburn pill? because this is america. and we don't just make things you want, we make things you didn't even know you wanted. like a spoon fork. spray cheese. and jeans made out of sweatpants. so grab yourself some new prilosec otc wildberry. [ male announcer ] one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn. satisfaction guaranteed or your money back.

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always want to do. it's created the political cry mat to do it. >> you get into a biddle match. you shouldn't have a 100-round -- >> do you think somebody needs 80, 90 -- >> in a lot of competitions they don't. no yed one, you might not need one, but we're not everybody. >> are you mental. >> somebody breaks in, you better be a good shot. because you've only got a seven-bullet limit. >> you're a horrible shot. >> you could have made that point without necessarily bringing sasha and malia specifically. >> the nra is a joaquin style joke or a false flag operation run by michael moore. >> it's a key part of the conservative entertainment model. >> she was double fisting babies. the babies. >> i found the use of children

borderline creepy. >> i consider it a form of child abuse. >> coming up on fox and friends, honey, they shrunk the foot long. >> stunning. >> there will be pundits and politicians warning of a tyrannical all-out assault on liberty. >> president doesn't have the guts to admit it, he's not a believer in the second amendment. >> the founding fathers didn't want to let the president become a king. >> i am your king. >> president obama may have this king complex. >> and why does he get to veto bills and command an army. >> we're going to take sure it doesn't happen. >> joining me is joy reid and another anti-impeer yis, driaan milbank. have you seen this man? his name is john boehner. he was last seen in washington when he was re-elected speaker of the house. there are reports he and the house gop are at an annual retreat in williamsburg, yet

conservatives like hugh hewitt are calling him a milk carton republican because he's gone missing on several very important debates. do you know where he is? >> you know, i have not personally seen this man, john boehner, but i have heard of him. i know who he is vaguely. i think he's the guy that had the most miserable, unpleasant speakership in the history of the republic, and it was because he had these conservative freshmen who came in all excited to undo the government, and they didn't understand that as speaker his job is to not undo the government. so he's had this problem where he can't please conservatives like hugh hewitt because they want him to champion real conservative principles but he can't get re-elected in his district, and republicans can't win on a national level if they champion those same values. i think right now boehner has chosen to just go quiet and sort of back away from the debate. >> dana, if you exclude his re-election as speaker, tomorrow marks the four-week anniversary

since he made a public appearance. in that time the president of the united states no less has made 11. is there a strategy behind the retreat of the happless speaker? >> the problem here is for he goes out there, he's going to find all these daggers in his back from his own membership. so that's why he's been rather quiet now. he's meeting with -- privately with his members down in williamsburg at a retreat right now. it's a problem overall for the republican party because they don't have a very clear leader. it's not clear exactly what policies they would pursue other than saying no to whatever the president is pursuing. now, they're still going to be plenty capable to what the president is proposing, but they're just waiting for it to get to the house so they can do that. >> excellent. joy, we did hear after the election from the great reince prieb priebus, chair of the rnc, who

said the republican party would start reaching out to minorities and this is what he said. >> african-american communities, asian communities. i think that's where we're heading and i think that's where you're going to see the rnc in the future. >> that was four weeks ago. have you seen or heard of mr. priebus since then because again another great disappearing act. >> isn't that the guy when he was the red of the wisconsin republican party, that was the time these billboards that were talking about voter fraud started to crop up? >> that would be the same. >> and the head of the rnc of who said nothing about these billboards cropping up. they may want to think about ways of doing the basic optics of talking to african-americans. there are plantations, i

understand. >> on a plantation. >> hopefully they won't get the idea of sauntering over to colonial williamsburg to figure out how to talk to women. >> why is that? >> the women there are probably a lot more quaint. they talk to you in character and they never come out of quark. so they're not going to get modern-day women-type answers. they'll get an answer that won't help them. >> dana, republicans say they want more minority voters but their only plan right now is to split up states electoral votes. is that all they have? new versions of old tactics that, frankly, didn't work for the last two presidential elections. >> well, if you can gerrymander things right right, it has kept this party in control of the house of representatives -- >> that's true. >> -- despite losing the popular vote there. so if you can make that happen in the presidency as well. the problem is they're sort of

rearranging the proverbial deck chairs on the titanic because if they're not going to succeed in reaching out particularly to the latino community, it's not going to matter how they slice and dice the electoral vote in each state. that's just going to bring the party down. so they can rearrange these things but ultimately that's not how they're going to win elections in the future. >> it seems remarkable, joy, that for a party that lost african-american voters by 94%, asian americans by 73%, and latinos by 73%, they still don't appear to have involved anybody or produced any kind of prospectus about the way forward. does that surprise you as well? >> no, it does. it also sort of leads to the first discussion we're having about the disappearance of the titular leaders. the guys who sound aggressive

and crazy. so those people are rushing into the vacuum created by republican leadership and tonally, that is very off-putting to women, to minorities, to african-americans, to latinos. if you look at the black and latino candidates they are able to elect, their positions are so conservative, they are an anathema to the vast majority of their demographic. that even tim scott who is african-american now in the senate is not appealing to african-americans. >> right. final question, dana, if you can be brief, what do you think they're plotting down there? are they going through a selection of bourbons, perhaps? what are they doing? >> that would be an enjoyable way to -- >> it would be. >> reporter: to spend the weekend. they know they're not going to be taken up by the senate or signed by the president.

this is strictly a matter of defense saying what is the president proposing? we're going to say no. it's not an elaborate policy, it's just saying no. >> brilliant. dana milbank and joy reid, thank you so much. next, breaking the myth of the imperial presidency. stay with us. [ male announcer ] there are only so many foods that make kids happy. and even fewer that make moms happy too. with wholesome noodles and bite sized chicken, nothing brings you together like chicken noodle soup from campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. you so much. nnouncer ] eligible for medicare?

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look for the experience and commitment to go the distance with you. call now to request your free decision guide. just a few hours ago paul ryan claimed to have the solution to our debt ceiling impasse. he calls it a short-term debt limit extension. you may know it better as kicking the can down the road. which reminds me, there was someone just a few months ago who was famously against that kind of a deal. who was it? >> kick the can. kick the can. kick the can. >> right, of course. that's who it was. joining us is jonathan alter and

jared bernstein. welcome to you both. john, we've seen speaker boehner's power getting weaker and weaker. is paul ryan now the de facto head of the gop? >> well, you know, actually, martin, i think he has been much more influential than people realize -- >> because he's been quite quiet publicly. >> going back to 2011. he has so much respect within that republican caucus. he's the guy who killed simpson/bowl simpson/bowles. he was on the simpson/bowles commission and wasn't willing to have any revenue increases. his fingerprints were not on it. and then when it came to the grand bargain, he told john boehner wait until the election. don't do this deal. so this is more of the same from him in his own relatively quiet way because he is much more intelligent than a lot of the other members. he does wield a lot of influence. what he's trying to do here is not just kick the can down the road but to kind of

institution institutionalize basically a water torture for the country where we would be going through this potentially month after month after month. >> yeah. jared, it was reported today that the country saw another drop in unemployment claims. the housing market as we have discussed before is showing small signs of recovery. auto sales are up. doesn't going through a debt ceiling hostage crisis, as john says, every month only threaten the very recovery that we're now starting to experience? >> exactly. and that's the thing that from an economic perspective and a fiscal perspective i think is most crazy about that idea. just lurching from crisis to crisis. and let me talk a little bit about the deficit implication. allegedly these guys are saying they want to try to help our debt situation. the debt held by the public is about $10 trillion. that makes the math kind of easy. if we lurch from crisis like this every couple of months, at

some point our creditors, the folks who lend ution money, are going to insist on an interest rate premium. suppose it goes up 0.1%, ten basis points. that is equivalent to $10 billion more of debt obligations, and the last time we even bellied up to this debt ceiling debate according to the bipartisan policy center, it cost us about $19 billion over ten years because of the very interest rate affect i'm defining. this is a manufactured crisis mentality with the goal of disparaging government and slashing the heck out of social insurance and spending. make no mistakes about it. >> to jared's point, it does nothing to the deficit. >> it makes it worse. >> it makes it worse. >> paul ryan has never been interested in deficit reduction. if you look at the ryan -- >> hang on a second. i just listened to him as the

vice presidential candidate going on and on and on about overspending, the country kand afford it, putting debt on the backs of our children. >> it's all bull. if you look at the ryan plan, it had 20% tax cuts in it and it didn't balance the budget for another 30 years. it was not a deficit reduction -- >> let me make a point about that. >> jared, go ahead. >> listen to this. this is underappreciated. the paul ryan budget plan required an increase in the debt ceiling. let's be very clear about that. i completely agree with jonathan on this. in fact, these are people who pose as budget hawks. they're really chicken hawks. >> those are the people who are going after chuck hagel who didn't serve in vietnam. >> varijared, the president yesterday in talking about proposals to deal with the issue of gun violence mentioned the idea of employing another 14,000 police officers as part of a gun control package.

okay? >> right. >> but doesn't that have the double value of not only increasing protections but also actually employing people? >> right. when i heard that -- >> but is that -- does that come under the word stimulus that paul ryan finds unacceptable. >> i'm afraid if you call it stimulus it may not happen, but yes. but yes, you're right. one of the things i did and once i read that was to try to figure out there's no good -- one database on this, but to figure out how many police and sheriff have been laid off and i got a number around the 10,000 range and, by the way, you can find once you start to go into the data, that places where buts have been squeezed the most, you're starting to see crime rise. >> what this is is something that rahm emanuel did in the clinton administration which is you use more police. in those days 100,000 more cops

as a sweetener in a bill because it's very popular, it's a crowd pleaser, and therefore you can get some other things you want through the congress by adding cops. >> indeed. jonathan alter and jared bernstein, gentlemen, thank you. much more ahead but first hampton pearson has the cnbc market wrap. >> how are you doing, martin? all that good news about jobs and housing had the major averages in the green. the dow adding 84. the s&p up 8 and the nasdaq adding 18 points. that's it from cbs, first inform business worldwide. nbc, first inform business worldwide. [ male announcer ] this is joe woods' first day of work. and his new boss told him two things -- cook what you love, and save your money. joe doesn't know it yet, but he'll work his way up from busser to waiter to chef before opening a restaurant specializing in fish and game from the great northwest. he'll start investing early,

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the president has just begun his push to curb gun violence and already some vocal opponents have said they will do their level best to ignore, funullify

or even bring articles of impeachment over stricter gun control measures. peter alexander joins us. the president has only just laid out his proposals and mississippi's governor wants to pass measures to make it illegal. what is the white house saying to all of this? >> reporter: mississippi, their governor, is not alone on this. you might want to call it the great american gun rebellion. in the state of texas there's a proposal we're told by a representative there to make it unenforceable in that state to have any ban on assault weapons or any limits on the type of ammunition magazines. the president less than 24 hours brought out. he said there will be efforts by politicians and pundits to suggest this is a tyrannical effort to limit americans' lib pert he says not because it's

true because it's to gin up ratings, revenue, or fear. earlier today jay carney said this. >> there is nothing the president proposed yesterday that would result if enacted in anyone, any law-abiding citizen in america, losing a gun. >> reporter: so the white house obviously this afternoon really trying to push back on those efforts. >> i thought that was pretty clear yesterday anyway, but there we are. i guess repetition is helpful. on a lighter note, it's the first lady's birthday today, and she's looking particularly wonderful with a new hairdo in a new photo in her new twitter account. i'm assuming this is all in preparation for the inauguration. >> reporter: 49 years young michelle obama is today. i'm not a hairstylist but my wife watches bravo so it's clear she has new bangs in that do as she gets ready to celebrate her husband's second inauguration. we've been reaching out all day to the east wing and west wing

to find out what their plans are. we're hearing from the pool with the president. we think he's thanking some of the workers preparing the streets for the inaugural festivities. >> we'll get some details no doubt in the next few hours. nbc's peter alexander. pete, thanks so much. and we'll be right back. i have a cold, and i took nyquil, but i'm still stubbed up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't unstuff your nose. what? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus liquid gels speeds relief to your worst cold symptoms plus has a decongestant for your stuffy nose. thanks. that's the cold truth! pull out the paper and...what!!?? an article that says a typical family pays $155,000 in "wall street" fees on their 401(k)s? seriously? seriously. you don't believe it? search it,

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to turn america into his own kingdom. yes, it sounds ridiculous, but this is the last resort for some republicans who are beginning to realize if 209 children in a first grade classroom can be slaughtered, many the time has come for to us address the issue of gun violence. senator rand paul, who has already promised to nullify any legislation that the president may introduce, has now offered this analysis. >> i'm very concerned about this president. fdr had a little bit of this king complex also. we had to limit fdr finally because he served so many terms that i think he would have ruled in perpetuity. >> we had to limit fdr finally because he would have had to rule in perpetuity. mr. paul in his rush to insult the current president seems not to remember that at the beginning of